Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Thur., Oct. 27) -- mixed results for two CBS newbies and a fiasco for TEGNA8's 5 p.m. newscast on opening day of the November "sweeps"

10/28/16 10:25 AM

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterThe first day of the November “sweeps” ratings period also marked the last new fall series rollouts on the Big Four broadcast networks.

CBS premiered The Great Indoors sitcom at 7:30 p.m. and followed at 9 p.m. with the new medical drama Pure Genius.

Coming off a bounteous lead-in from The Big Bang Theory, which had 370,826 D-FW viewers, The Great Indoors fell to 181,778 viewers but still won its time slot. Among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds, Big Bang pulled in 131,491 viewers before Great Indoors landed at 60,935 to tie NBC’s The Good Place for first place at 7:30 p.m.

Pure Genius, airing at 9 p.m., ran third in total viewers with 130,880, good enough to outdraw ABC’s slumping How to Get Away with Murder (87,253). NBC’s The Blacklist won the hour with 174,506 viewers.

In the 18-to-49 motherlode, Pure Genius and HTGAWM tied for third with 25,657 viewers apiece while Fox4’s 9 p.m. local newscast led the pack with 57,728 viewers.

Fox4, NBC5, TEGNA8 and CBS11 squared off at 6 a.m. and 5, 6 and 10 p.m. for the first of 20 November sweeps weekdays. So you can see where things stand at the opening gun, here are each station’s scorecards in total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Comments: It could still develop into a four-way race in total viewers, while NBC5 and Fox4 are likely to end the sweeps as the two frontrunners among 25-to-54-year-olds. CBS11 has virtually no chance to finish anywhere except last in the key 25-to-54 demographic.

Comments: Fox4 is the longtime champ in both ratings measurements, and that’s not at all likely to change. NBC5 is a solid bet to take the silvers while TEGNA8 and CBS11 will battle to stay out of last place in the 25-to-54 demographic.

Comments: NBC5 has come on strong at 6 p.m., and is the likely winner in both ratings measurements. But TEGNA8 has a shot with total viewers and Fox4 could still make some noise with 25-to-54-year-olds. CBS11 again will hold down a distant last place among 25-to-54-year-olds.

Comments: NBC5 also has been pretty steady in the early evening slot, and is the favorite to win in both measurements. In contrast, TEGNA8 has built a bed of thorns for itself with scantly watched syndicated programming from 2 to 4 p.m., which affects the performance of its generally ratings-starved 4 p.m. local news hour.

On the first day of the sweeps, the station compounded matters with a 5 p.m. edition that was infested with serious audio problems from start to finish before sports anchor Dale Hansen capped matters by inadvertently walking in front of meteorologist Colleen Coyle’s weather shot and obliterating her for a memorable half-second. Below is a screen-shot, with the entire video sequence available on the @unclebarkycom Twitter feed.